May 24, 2006

513 Million Reasons for Optimism

"During the first quarter, venture capitalists invested $513 million
into companies that have a clean-technology aspect to them, a six-year
high, according to the Cleantech Venture Network quarterly report, to
be released tomorrow.

"That's a 2.3% increase over the previous quarter, and a significant
52.9 percent jump over the same quarter a year ago. Moreover, a record
$357 million was invested into clean-tech energy companies."

[Kleiner partner]
John Doerr said to me: "Are we going to have any more Googles?" And I
said: "You're damn right we are, because we are at the point of new
wealth creation when it comes to green technology." John used to say
Google is the greatest legal creation of wealth [ed: He actually said it was the Internet -- not just Google], and I think the
greatest legal creation of wealth today is in the green area -- not
just in the U.S. but in the developed world. We have been looking at a
lot of things related to new fuels, such as ethanol, fuel cells,
advanced battery technology, and new ways of using biotech to make
fuels.... There will be an enormous amount of new [green] technology,
new wealth, and we are trying to create the Googles, the Microsofts of the new era. [Even] the garbage stream has a high value.

And this is just in the venture world. Established tech players like Sun Microsystems, Applied Materials and AMD are getting into the clean tech game in a big way, too. Why? Sure, some of it comes from being good corporate citizens. But, mostly, it's just good capitalism. And, that's the reason for optimism. If we had to rely on warm fuzzies to save the planet, we would soon be breaking out the 463 windsurf board to make our way down K Street.

Wal-Mart's president, Lee Scott, delivered a "secret"
speech to employees about "21st Century Leadership," in which he
outlined a whole slew of what can only be called truly remarkable and
potentially world-altering agenda items to help ensure the future
health of the world's biggest shopping hell.

And what a speech it was. Packed with
all sorts of pledges and goals of such a green and sustainable and
forward-thinking nature it might as well have been floating on boats of
tofu on waves of Sierra Club blown by winds of Utne Reader. It was, in
a word, surreal. And if even half of it is true, more than a little
revolutionary.

There was talk of stores eventually being
supplied with 100-percent renewable energy. Talk of ultimately creating
zero waste, of pledging to reduce packaging materials across the board
and create more recyclables and replace PVC packaging in all Wal-Mart
branded items with more eco-friendly materials. And when you're talking
megatons of plastic, that's saying a lot.

It gets better. Wal-Mart has already committed to selling 100-percent sustainable fish
in its food markets. They are already experimenting with green roofs,
corn-based plastics and green energy (which is now used to power four
Canadian stores, for a total of 39,000 megawatts, amounting to what
some estimate is the single biggest purchase of renewable energy in Canadian history).

The reasoning, according to Morford:

Like any giant company suddenly "embracing" the green
initiative (hi, GM and Ford), Wal-Mart's rationale for all of this, of
course, has absolutely zero to do with any sort of deep concern for the
planet (though it does make for good PR), nothing at all about actual
humanitarian beliefs or honest emotion or spiritual reverence, and has
absolutely everything to do with the corporation's rabid manifesto:
cost-cutting and profit.

The reason Scott promised that Wal-Mart
will double the fuel efficiency of their huge truck fleet within a
decade? Not to save the air, but to save $300 million in fuel costs per
year. The reason they aim to increase store efficiency and reduce
greenhouse gasses by 20 percent across all stores worldwide? To save
money in heating and electrical bills, and also to help lessen the
impact of global warming, which is indirectly causing more violent
weather, which in turn endangers production and delivery and Wal-Mart's
ability to, well, sell more crap. Ah, capitalism.

Seems Wal-Mart has realized one vital
maxim that so many fundamentalist right-wing capitalist GOPers have so
far failed to grasp: The apocalypse is just really bad for business.

Indeed. And, preventing the apocalyse happens to be pretty good for business. And, for more on clean tech (with less venom) see our previous pieces on the subject.

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